Questions & Comfort
by UnhealthyViewingHabits
Summary: Just a short tag after 4x15.  I wanted some closure so I thought about this.    PS - I don't own THE MENTALIST so disclaimer done.
1. Chapter 1

The rain pounded down the window panes, mimicking the dark mood of the man inside. Everything had gotten so complicated. Emotions. Messy emotions. Things that didn't have a place in his grand scheme.

Erica. God she is beautiful. And cold. Kissing her hadn't set his blood to boiling but cooled everything instantly. Once a maneater, always a maneater.

Lisbon. Passionate. Fiery. Tough. Caring. Her jealousy did more to arouse him than any kiss. And her doubt of him had stung worse than the escape itself.

How had she gotten in that far?

Jane rose to his feet to get another cup of tea. His one constant that could be whatever he needed and could be what he made of it. Nothing messy about tea.

Jane strode through the CBI to the kitchenette to boil the kettle and get another "hug in a cup" when he was pulled up short by the sight of Lisbon sitting on his couch wrapped in his old blanket that was always thrown so casually over the back. She was curled with her knees drawn up under her chin and she just stared blankly ahead. The sadness rolled off of her as an almost palpable force. He had to stop himself from going to her and comforting her. His Lisbon.

Returning with his fresh cup to go back to his dank and morbid attic, Jane was stopped by one short question uttered from the worn leather couch, "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why her? Why can't you talk to me? Why do you shut me out?"

Jane stood looking at her wide green eyes. Lisbon, Teresa, looked so small and forlorn all tucked up on one of his refuges in the CBI. He just contemplated the questions knowing that lying and making light of the situation wasn't going to do them any good. If she had the courage to ask he should have the courage to answer.

"She was safe. She would be going away again and my damage is enough on my own. I didn't want to shut you out but you already bear so much. I'm scared I just might break you one day."

"You already broke me."

Her eyes were swimming in unshed tears and Jane's jaw clenched with the unwanted emotion he felt for her. But he couldn't walk away again.

He walked toward her never breaking eye contact and set his cup down on the unused desk. He settled next to her and pulled her to him and tucked her into his side. Jane hoped Lisbon understood that it wasn't forever that he expected her to wait. He wouldn't expect her to wait at all but he knew she would and he hoped his damage didn't destroy her in the meantime.

They settled in and just listened to each other breathe and the rain on the window panes. Two damaged souls hoping they could survive to be able to heal each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi Everyone, I honestly wasn't planning on continuing the story. It was supposed to be short tag but I got to going on it and something else came out. Both chapters can be stand alones and I don't know how long I can be creative on this but we will see. This one is longer.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the Mentalist or the characters or anything associated with the creative process of the show.**

Striding into Lisbon's office, Jane collapsed on the couch that he had bought her. It was so much softer than the old red one, and when he laid on it in her presence, some sense of peace settled over him. He could lay here and almost imagine life without revenge and a sense of wellbeing.

Lisbon looked up from her paperwork slightly bemused. She was still a bit wary from the Erica fiasco. Yet she still allowed him in her sanctum. She did more living inside the walls of the CBI than she did at her own home. Her office, more of a private space than any bedroom, was her refuge and he just came right in. Becoming part of the refuge she sought.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today Jane?"

"I just needed a change of scenery. Wondering if I could find another long dead rock and roll great in your stains."

And he just laid there, staring at the ceiling, in apparent concentration. But he was a duck, calm on the surface, paddling like crazy underneath. His mind was going a mile a minute with thoughts that swirled and the confusion. It was a good confusion, though. The type that only happened with thoughts of Lisbon and being surrounded by her. It was the closest he came to a quiet mind.

Lisbon closed her eyes and sighed. She had long associated his scent with safety, comfort. The one person she didn't have to act around. He knew all her dark and all her light. Accepted both and identified with the dark more than anyone. Understood it. Understood her more than she understood him. She'd gotten used to that.

"What do you want to do today, Lisbon?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know if you could do anything today, what would it be?"

"Finishing the paperwork from the last shenanigan you will ever pull because you realize the error of your ways."

"Yeah, but then what would you do next week?"

He had turned on his side and his eyes were sparkling at her in mischief. What he was thinking was still a mystery but she was intrigued. He had that effect on her. She still remembered being tucked next to him for hours listening to it rain. Any anger or frustration had melted away with it. He was still here with her and she would enjoy it for whatever it was.

Jane stared into her green eyes. Soulful like nothing else he had ever seen. Where Angela's were guileless, Lisbon's were world weary but still hopeful. He had found that his dreams, when he had finally been able to sleep, were more and more often filled by world weary green. He didn't mind the shift as much as he thought he would.

"How about I give you a choice, strawberry concoction of some sort or ice cream? You choose the poison and I choose the venue."

"Strawberry and it better not be Kool Aid in South America."

Jane grinned as only he can at her and jumped up from the couch to follow her out the door. He ushered her into the elevator and out of the building to his beloved Citroen, well aware that she couldn't object as it was his choice.

"So where are we going?" Lisbon asked as they pulled out of the CBI parking lot and out onto the main road.

"There's a farmer's market I've been dying to go to. It's near Carmel."

"That is three hours away at least Jane! It is already 4:00 PM, we won't get there before seven."

"Perfect. Just in time for dinner."

Lisbon just sat back in her seat knowing it was pointless to argue. It would have been the same if she had chosen ice cream. She knew his choice wasn't really so much a choice as the mirage of one. He was making the decision and she found she didn't mind so much. There were worse ways to spend a late afternoon and evening.

In fact she realized there was nowhere else she would rather be at that moment.

Jane expected more of a fight. He was pleasantly surprised she didn't demand to go back to the CBI but she deserved this. They deserved this. Some time to just be together, just an accepting presence beside them and all that they are together. The good and the bad. All the foibles and follies and fire that make them who they are.

Lisbon reached across the space between them and pushed on his upper arm uttering a quiet, "Thank You."

Jane looked at her and met her soulful eyes with his own stormy blue ones, and dazzled her with one of his true smiles. They just let the hum of the Citroen lullaby them in their own cocoon.

For a few hours they could be friends. Maybe even friends on the road to something more. Maybe they would take a few hours to just be that. More than friends but not quite ready for being lovers. A taste of what could be. One day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is another chapter. Now don't ask me how I made the correlations I did in this but it seemed appropriate. I hope you like it. **

**Disclaimer - Again I don't own or have anything to do with THE MENTALIST.**

The tables were old cable spools with faded red and white checked tablecloths. The menu, a blackboard and the makeshift kitchen was under a removable awning. Friendly open faces were behind the counter wrapped in slightly frayed white aprons taking orders and making the mouth watering delights. All around the sounds and smells of fresh produce and homemade goods wafted through Lisbon's senses from the farmer's market. She felt relaxed, more relaxed than she had in a long time

.Jane stood in the centre of the impromptu restaurant casually juggling whatever he had found lying around. Cups, saucers, keys and whatever else people had in their pockets was being casually tossed in the air time and time again. His coat was long gone and his sleeves were rolled up, putting on a show for his rapt crowd of young and old, he was in his element. Lisbon watched the years of mourning and revenge fall away as he entertained those that hadn't been touched by the worse side of the world. She could almost see the man that wanted to be part of it all once again.

Jane glanced in her direction. He was taken by her relaxed demeanour, the anxiety and worry slowly erasing from her face. The lines of responsibility no longer etched in her pale skin. Eyes sparkling with amusement and crinkling gently at the edges with her quiet smile. She was just watching him entertain and letting him be the centre of attention, absorbing his rarely shown innocent side. She was affectionately watching the small group with Jane at its heart and he enjoyed seeing her so at peace.

"My arms are tired folks. I haven't done this for years and you've all accepted my incompetence with great enthusiasm. Thank you for your time on this lovely Friday evening. I think I should return to my lady in waiting," Jane flippantly remarked and grinned at Lisbon. She shook her head in amusement at being called a "Lady". Only Jane could make a jeans clad, leather jacket wearing, gun carrying woman sound so regal.

"Lady in waiting?"

"Well my dear Lisbon, every Tramp has one. Care for a bowl of spaghetti?" was his cheeky response.

Lisbon had the grace to blush and turn away. He could always do that to her with one well put phrase.

"Shall we go Tramp?"

"You know Lady got in to a lot of mischief when the Tramp led her astray."

"Yeah but she wasn't wearing a gun," Lisbon retorted, her grin taking the sting out of her words.

Jane just chuckled lightly and guided her gently with his hand at her back to the Citroen. They walked in companionable silence, occasionally glancing at each other. Both still thinking about how easy it was for them to just be. Just be together, like breathing. Nothing else in their lives was this effortless. Neither one wanted to give up the comfort that had settled in.

"Have you ever been to the beach here?" Lisbon asked quietly.

"No, I never really visit beaches unless we're working a case."

"You should go one day. You can see the monastery from the beach and it's really quite pretty. Very tranquil."

"Are you waxing poetic? I guess wonders will never cease," Jane teased.

"Actually I wonder every day why I put up with you."

"Actually you also wonder when I will have enough and just be gone, too," Jane uttered quietly. The fear that she would have enough of his crap scared him and he realized how delicate it all was. Their whole existence as a working partnership, friendship, and another deeper relationship between them that they never discuss. The playful mood turned serious.

Lisbon looked at him with her earnest green eyes. World weary yet again. He hated that he did that to her.

"I don't wonder about that Jane, I just accept it. You will leave me one day, leave the CBI. Just don't shut me out while you are willing to stick around."

Jane just nodded and started the Citroen. His mind again awhirl with thoughts and confusion. His Lisbon confusion. He didn't know how she slipped in but she did. Tugged at long dead parts of his heart, breathing them into painful life. What to do with it all was the hard part.

"How about that beach? The moon is full enough for a walk and we can head back after. No work on a Saturday unless you really want to finish that paperwork, Lisbon," Jane teased trying to bring the ease back in to their evening.

Lisbon let him lead her back to their light hearted mood with a nod of her head and her lips turned up slightly, ready for whatever other surprises and admissions they may make. Away from their usual life it all didn't seem so complicated.

Jane eased the car out onto the highway. Silvery moonlight surrounding them. Each willing to enjoy the silence that was so loud with all the unsaid things yet to come out.

Every conversation seemed to have a baby step to what was the truth for them. One step, one conversation at a time. The little moments when they laid a little bit on the line. Their fears, their feelings. They could get there. One small step, one small admission, at a time.


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you all like it. Thank you for the reviews. They are much appreciated.**

**Disclaimer - Still don't own it. **

Shoes and socks discarded, pants haphazardly rolled up, jackets removed in favour of comfort, moonlight glinting off the softly rolling waves. It was peaceful. Tranquil.

Slowly Jane and Lisbon wandered down the quiet beach, lights from the city and stars twinkling all around them. Both enjoying the feel of the cool water on their feet and the soft sand between their toes.

"Do you see the big dipper, Lisbon?"

"Yeah, it's the only constellation I can ever find without a map of the sky."

"We should make up our own. Like that group over there," Jane stated while pointing low in the western sky, "reminds me of Wainwright. Small and on the fringe but always around."

Lisbon chuckled at the analogy and found a group with lots of wide spaces and looked like arms and legs akimbo to her. She pointed at it and stated, "That is a Rigsby if I ever saw one."

Jane just laughed at the comparison and found a grouping that was gently curving and clear, like it was dancing with the akimbo figure.

"Now that would be our dear Grace. Always clear and transparent."

"I think that the background, all dark sky behind the stars, would represent you. Ever present and all knowing, or at least thinking you are," Lisbon teased.

"Good one," Jane responded with a smile on his handsome face. His eye was caught by a small cluster of stars. Some bright, some dim but all wrapped up in what appeared to be the intergalactic dust and he knew who that was.

"See that group over there? The stars in the milky white of interstellar dust? That reminds me of you, Lisbon. So bright yet so hard to see distinctly. So much hidden but with the illusion of translucence."

Jane turned to see the moon illuminating Lisbon's features and causing her eyes to twinkle. The breeze gently moving her dark hair as if it were some wayward halo. He was struck by the need to touch her, to move the invisible veil that surrounded her. He opted for hip bumping her.

The bump caught her off guard and Lisbon lost her balance, landing in the water. Sitting there with water lapping around her and green eyes wide in shock, she was adorable in Jane's eyes. Lisbon looked up at his mischievous face with the humoured grin, and caught his ankle and he ended up in the water next to her. Suddenly they both started to laugh, the mirth echoing down the quiet beach.

"This is going to be uncomfortable. Three hours in wet clothes on the way back to Sacramento," Lisbon said, finally being able to speak.

"No, not necessary dear Lisbon. I have an idea," Jane casually responded with a twinkle in his eye. Lisbon wasn't willing to question what he had in mind because he wouldn't tell her anyway and she really didn't have a choice. He was her way home.

Pulling up in front of the expensive looking hotel, Jane jumped out in his wet suit and bare feet to go to reception. Strolling in casually as if it was the most normal thing in the world to be soaking wet and shoeless.

Jane returned and handed Lisbon two robes and a key card.

"They have suites here and are coming to get our clothes and wash and dry them. They will have them delivered back to us in the morning so we are set for the evening."

"So we just lounge around in robes and watch TV in the meantime?" Lisbon asked.

"Lounging around doing nothing will do you some good Lisbon. Old movies, a mini bar and me. What more could you want?" Jane jested back at her.

Lisbon just rolled her eyes. The thought of them in close proximity with not much between them didn't seem like a wise idea but it definitely appealed to her on so many levels she didn't want to think about what she should and shouldn't do. She was content to just be.

Lisbon claimed the shower as soon as they entered the room. In the massive bathroom, Lisbon stood under the hot spray of the shower head chasing the chill from her bones, chasing away her doubts. Her clothes bagged and her robe donned, she exited the bathroom so Jane could follow her routine of a shower and bagging his clothes. Together they flopped on the couch with a beer and "Witness" on the television.

"This is my favourite Harrison Ford movie," Lisbon remarked in passing.

"That doesn't surprise me. A cop falling in love with the wrong person. Knowing it wouldn't work but not caring."

"Actually I identify with Kelly McGillis' character more. Loving a man that will eventually leave her but wanting that taste of passionate love. That whole better to have loved and lost sort of ideal."

They sat there just looking at each other, aware of the truth in what they both said. The air alive around them. Crackling with the energy waiting to be released. Green meeting blue, dilating. Well aware of the lack of substantial clothing, just a tug on a terrycloth belt is all it would take. Their armour shed, the walls lowered. Jane reached out and cupped her jaw, his thumb stroking her cheek. Nothing in the past eight years had felt so natural.

"I need to kiss you Teresa," Jane huskily whispered.

She could only nod, lips parting involuntarily. The first touch of their mouths just felt inevitable. The beginning of what was to come. An ending of the denial long suffered.

The fire was set and the tinder dry. It could only burn them to ash by morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Well Folks, here is another instalment. I am glad you like and that so many have alerted it. I'm glad that it is being so well received. Sorry it is so short but I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer – Still not mine.**

Jane laid there staring at her slumbering form. A love bite visible on Lisbon's pale bare shoulder. He wanted to stay in this moment, just as Patrick and Teresa, newly discovered lovers where their ordinary world was miles away from where it could harm this fragile existence. His fingers itched to trace over her warm soft skin and commit it into his memory. Not that he could forget if he tried.

_The first kiss had started the fire. The taste of her on his tongue was the gasoline. It would burn them alive he was sure. _

_They couldn't get close enough. They couldn't have enough contact. Nothing was enough in that moment. Teresa straddled his lap, demanding more of him. Fierce even then. Her fingers raked through his wayward curls, down his neck and playing across his bare chest. He had to touch her. He had to worship her._

_His hands fell to the loose knot of the terrycloth robe and looked deeply into her eyes, asking her silently for permission. A slow nod from Teresa is all it took and he tugged lightly, the robe falling away to reveal her. Bare and beautiful._

Teresa woke to smiling blue eyes. Clear and bright, no longer stormy. Patrick was lying there, just watching her, totally comfortable in his own nakedness. Golden skin, the supple muscle that lay beneath. She remembered how those muscles flexed as he hovered above her on the bed just hours ago.

_Patrick's body was velvet over moving marble. She couldn't touch him enough. Nothing was said as they learned every inch of each other. Fingers, lips, tongues. Flesh on flesh. Their eyes expressing everything that they were feeling, neither willing to break the spell with words. Communicating with fevered caresses and hungry moans. _

_Teresa lay under him, Patrick's fingers tangled in her dark hair as it fanned out around her head, hers anchoring his body close. She opened for him, and they joined together in something so perfect, so holy, it was sacramental. He pressed his forehead to hers and just shared her breath. Teresa was his religion, and he would worship at her altar as often as he could. _

_Their motions started out languid, slow. Delicious friction. Needs growing stronger, wilder, more demanding. Patrick brought her with him to a sitting position as she wrapped her limbs around him. Their actions turning frantic as the pleasure built between them. Sweat slicked bodies sliding across each other. The blaze consumed them as they cried out their surrender. _

Teresa reached out and cupped the side of his face. Patrick closed his eyes at her touch, giving in to the power she had over him.

"Good morning, beautiful," Patrick rasped out, voice heavy with emotion and sleep.

"Good morning to you, too."

Patrick leaned over to her and gently claimed her mouth with his. Everything was so precious and new to them. He never thought he would find love again and she never thought she would get a chance at that emotion. Both well aware of the gift that the universe had given them, but they were unwilling to put it into words. The fear of rejection still deeply seated within each of them.

She was everything that his wife wasn't. A tomboy that didn't need protecting, independent, tough, and definitely not girly. But she was all woman to him. All the passion and fire that he craved in a lover and sinfully delicious in bed. He had changed. He was no longer the Patrick that had fallen for a sweet and innocent Angela, but he was the Jane that needed a little dark haired hellcat. Needed Teresa like oxygen. He didn't want to scare her with the depth of his dependence.

He was everything that she shouldn't want. Damaged, distant and devious. But he was more of what she found that she couldn't live without. Smarmy, arrogant, protective and possessive. So many facets to the puzzle of Patrick that she would forever be surprised by him. Boring he wasn't. Stimulating on so many levels that every day was an adventure and one that she would be unwilling to part with, so she would take what he could give and she would have to make that enough.

Their kiss deepened and the fire was lit. Teeth and lips, mouth and tongue, hands and limbs. They feasted on each other again. Every sense alight. The feel of the other, the taste of each other's flesh, the guttural cries and the smell of their carnal desire. They were branded. They were owned. They didn't give a damn.

The immediate world existed only to the edges of a king size bed.


	6. Chapter 6

**This is another chapter. For some strange reason, I really am enjoying putting them in situations that I get to control. Sort of. They tend to run amok and do things I wasn't expecting. Oh Well. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer - Still don't own it.**

Showered and dressed in her freshly laundered clothes, Teresa looked in the  
>mirror at her reflection. Carmel had been good to her. Patrick had been<br>good to her. She remembered every moment of their two nights spent in the  
>suite. Tramping about barefoot, room service, long showers and old movies clad only in robes if in anything at all. The nights and moments in the day where they couldn't stop touching, eventually coming together in feverish ways. She had never been so wanton.<p>

Now it was time to leave here. Time to go back to their ordinary. How would it be? Would they still be what they had become? The fear of losing what they had found was almost paralyzing. What if they just left, and didn't go back? Could they outrun their personal ghosts? She just didn't wanted to lose whatever this was. A happiness that she never thought she'd have a chance at. Too scared it would slip through her fingers like sand, out in a world that had never given her such joy as she had experienced here, with him. Her Patrick. Her Jane.

Jane paced in the living room. He knew they had to go back. Teresa had built a life out of the ashes that her childhood had left and he couldn't ask her to give it away on him. A broken and scarred man with more demons and damage than Hell had room for. But he'd never forget what they had while they were inside this room. Every touch, every caress, every ecstasy catalogued in a new room in his memory palace. It was going to be a replica of this suite that they had made ther haven. He would just add some constellations around the ceiling and the smell of strawberries on the air. He could look at any surface there and a vision of Teresa would appear. Smiling and relaxed and happy. It was the room he knew he would spend the most time in.

Jane knew that chances were, the memories would be all he would have left. Lisbon wouldn't want the pain and baggage he came with. The memories would have to be enough.

"You ready to go?" Teresa asked as she exited the bathroom.

"Yeah, just getting the keys to the car," he responded quietly, picking them up from the coffee table.

"I had a great time Patrick. Thank you."

Teresa looked at him with her honest green eyes. So much was running around in her head, he couldn't get a true read on her. Relief? Reservations? Regret? Or was it all three? He just wanted to slam the door and hold her here with him. Instead he held it open for her.

Teresa stood there looking at him and pushed the door shut. Holding them inside the room. She didn't turn to look at him, scared of the rejection she might face with her next words.

"I don't want to go back as it was before. I want to try, Patrick."

He gathered her in his arms and held her close, breathing her in. Relief running through him tidal waves. She wanted him. Wanted to try.

Slowly he released her from his arms, only to capture her face in his hands. With slow movements he kissed her with all the affection he could put in to his actions. His brave little Lisbon was willing to try for him. To fight for their chance. It was enough for now.

"That is all we can do Teresa, is try. I'm not easy, and I don't think that will change. Too many deep scars that have barely healed over but they are healing. Don't give up on me, I will get there."

"Don't shut me out, Patrick. Don't act like I can't handle your darkness. Let me help when it becomes overwhelming. Occasionally your scars are going to bleed, and the best we can do is to stem the flow. I know what we are up against but I know what we've come through."

With his hands still holding her face he touched his lips to her forehead. They entwined their fingers and walked out into the mid day sun. Both willing to make something that was more than the sum of their parts. Climbing into the Citroen, they looked at each other and smiled gently.

The world would attempt to pull them apart, but they would hold on tighter. Strength in spades from being baptized by fire. They steeled themselves for the challenges they would face, knowing that it would unavoidable. The CBI was just the beginning of the battlefront. 


	7. Author's Note

Author's Note: I will be attempting a sequel. Might end up being one of those stories that is actually a compilation of short stories that can stand on their own but are all part of a bigger picture.

Next up is coming out to the CBI.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. It did mean a lot and I'm glad that it got such a positive response.

CanterLevi – Yes I know he's not this playful right now but I think it is still in him. I do wonder if he's not as playful because of the mistakes he's made this year. Maybe trying not to get closer to Lisbon because his mistakes might just take her down too. Push her away so she's not the next body he finds in a closet. Just a theory I had.

But this theory is actually interesting and shows character growth on his behalf. He tried to get her closer to begin with to work the Red John case and get the info he needed. Now protecting Lisbon is more important to him than Red John as evidenced by his pushing her away. Which is twisted logic but this is Jane we are talking about.

I hate that I am faking you all out about another chapter but I wanted to let you all know what I was planning and this seemed the simplest way.


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